source: The Laid Back Gardener
1. Gardening Will Be Huge
It grew by leaps and bounds in 2020 (see yesterday’s blog for more information on that subject). There is no sign it is even starting to decline. Everyone is gardening (and that’s only a slight exaggeration). I predict yet another banner year for home gardening in 2021.
2. Parks and Gardens Will Be More Popular
Parks and gardens were once places you mostly went to on weekends or after work. Not any more. Not as many people are locked up in office buildings and factories for hours on end these days. With telecommuting, you don’t have to take that coffee break in the cafeteria: going outdoors, for a stroll a nearby park or to sit on a bench and breathe in some fresh air, will be big. Suddenly, there are yoga and Pilates classes, even dance lessons, outside in city parks and more and more people participate. Being outdoors is good for you and wouldn’t you rather be in a park or garden than standing on a sidewalk surrounded by concrete buildings?
3. More New Gardeners
The 16 million new people who joined the gardening world in 2020 will be influencing their friends and family. They showed off their homegrown veggies and offered their surpluses to neighbors who are already more than a little jealous of the great, fresh, wholesome food that seemed to grow so easily next door. Many of them too will give gardening a try in 2020.
4. Gardeners Become Influencers
You might be the latest garden influencer! Photo: blog.jconnelly.com
Social influencers, often linked to pop culture, food and clothing, have been a trend for years now, but if you have garden experience, expect that you too may be seen as an influencer. People notice what you do and will be after you for information. Start a web site, offer consultations: there may well be a new and very different career in it for you. Edible-garden influencers have seen up to 400% growth on their channels and are being inundated with questions. That could be you!
5. Food Gardening Remains Ever So Trend
It’s the Victory Garden effect again: confinement, worries of food shortages due to COVID-19 border closures and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from supplying your own food are pushing people to want to grow their own veggies, herbs and fruits. Recent news that there will be major price increases in fresh produce in the coming year will also boost interest in growing your own food for economic reasons.
6. Reducing Lawns
There is also a return to the backyard. It’s more and more the personal paradise of the owner, a place where you can have a confinement staycation … but a backyard is no longer just about lawns. According to a recent survey by the National Garden Bureau, 67% of respondents 35 and under may want some green lawn, but they also hope to see the rest of their yard planted with a wide variety of other plants: food plants, pollinator plants, native plants, flowers, etc. Creating a wildlife habitat for birds, bees and butterflies is seen as more desirable than a vast green space of mown lawn that, frankly, supports little life.
7. Mini-Plants Are Trending
More people are gardening, true, but they don’t necessarily have huge yards to garden in. So, smaller but productive plants will be gaining ground. Here are some suggestions from Garden Media Group:
‘Micro Tom’ tomato (the world’s tiniest tomato plant)
Mini bell peppers
‘Dwarf Yellow Crookneck’ squash
‘Romeo’ and ‘Short Stuff’ carrots
‘Baby Ball’ beets
Cucamelon
‘Windowbox’ mini basil
‘Striped Guadeloupe’ eggplant
‘Hearts of Gold’ cantaloupe
‘Tom Thumb’ peas
‘Crunchkin’ pumpkins
‘Mini White’ cucumbers
Sprouts and microgreens.
8. Container Gardening
A trend carried over from previous years, but getting stronger all the time, what with condominium and apartment dwellers, ever more numerous, having no in-ground space to grow in. But even suburban homeowners, who have plenty of growing space (or will soon, as they cut back on lawns), are putting containers everywhere: decks, stoops, stairways, etc. Container gardening gives you the freedom to garden where you want to … and don’t we all need to feel a bit of freedom in our lives right now? Plus, containers that can move indoors and out are great for those exotic fruits (kumquats, dwarf avocados, bonsai olive trees, etc.) that are so in style these days.
9. Going Green
The new wave of gardeners also wants solutions to gardening problems, but they want green solutions. Preferably home-made remedies, at that. After all, gardens these days are not just man-made structures you pop plants into, they’re “environments,” with living insects, birds and animals to consider. Organic is one way to express this, but just “green” often does the job. One or the other on a label can certainly boost interest … and sales.
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